Switch
by Doppler Effect
Summary: This is my alternative ending to Fullmetal Alchemist. Something different happened when Ed sacrificed his alchemy, and things aren't entirely what they seem. K plus instead of K for creepiness. -One shot-


A/N: This is an alternate ending of mine to FMA. When he went to the Truth, something different happened when he sacrificed his alchemy.

Disclaimer: I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist. Look up 'awesome' in the dictionary, and I'm pretty sure it says 'Fullmetal Alchemist' right next to it. But I still don't own it.

* * *

Ed stared at the Truth, glaring. The Truth simply smiled back. "Got something planned?" he said calmly. "Or do you plan on giving up more?"

"Yes. There is something I'm giving up," Ed snarled. He waved at his Gate. "I'm sacrificing my alchemy. No matter what the side effects."

The Truth looked shocked. Then he slowly nodded. "You have done well, alchemist, on your journey. You have beaten the Truth. Now, you will face the side effects, for there are some."

* * *

Al gave an excited exclamation as he saw Ed reappear. "Ed! You're back!"

"Al!" The two embraced, each happy to be back in the other brother's presence.

"Fullmetal! About time you made your reappearance!" Mustang shouted from behind Al. "Seriously, were you planning on taking any longer?"

"If you want, I can go back and make you wait a while longer," Ed said snidely.

"I'll pass," Mustang said, raising an eyebrow in amusement.

Years passed. Ed and Al continued running occasional missions for the Amestrian military. Mustang prospered as Fuhrer, with his subordinates backing him up every step of the way. Amestris flourished, and Ishval rebuilt itself practically from scratch.

But all things come to an end. Especially life.

* * *

Thirty years later, and Al appeared before the Truth. He'd been fighting at Briggs, where they'd been handling a skirmish from Drachma. It couldn't really be called anything else, since Drachma didn't stand a chance against Briggs. Especially when General Armstrong was there. Unfortunately, he'd been standing too close to one of the tanks, and when it malfunctioned and blew up, it had taken Al out as well as several others around him.

Al sighed, and glanced around. Then he frowned. He was at the Truth's place, but it looked different. Instead of the normally blank white space, it was a library, filled with books. Still, something about it told him where he was.

He spotted the Truth, curled in a corner, intently reading. Al cleared his throat, and the Truth looked up. His expression turned from one of mild annoyance to shock.

"It's my time to die, apparently. What do I do?" Al said, staring coldly at the Truth. The Truth stumbled to his feet, and walked toward Al. His balance didn't approve, and he practically tripped on his face several times. "Are you okay?" Al asked, frowning.

"Al…?" The Truth whispered.

Al suddenly stared at the Truth, his own face expressing shock. That wasn't the Truth's voice. No. That was his brother's voice. It wasn't the Truth standing before him. It was Ed.

"Ed? What are you doing here?" Al said incredulously. "No...it can't be you! You're back home in Risembool!"

"No! No, Al! I never have been! Ever since I visited the Truth the last time, this is where I've been! When I sacrificed my alchemy, that means I beat the Truth! But because I did, I had to take his place," Ed said sullenly. "I…guess I'm technically the Truth now."

Al stared at him with wide eyes, horrified. "You've been here, alone, for thirty years?"

Ed glanced away. "Yeah. Although I rebuilt his room to suit my needs."

"You mean books?" Al laughed. The laugh died away, and he glanced around. "Ed? Can I…stay here with you?"

Ed blinked. "Seriously? I mean, Al, once you stay here, you'll be here forever." Then Ed paused. "Sorry. Forgot that you're dead now."

Al shrugged. "Endless time for reading. "

The two laughed, and Ed showed Al about what he did as the Truth. "The Truth didn't really specify, but it's possible whoever beats the previous Truth becomes the next Truth. He didn't say, so there's no real way of knowing until he comes through again. He took some power with him, to preserve his being, and went to Amestris. I don't really do anything, other than deal with the occasional alchemist who wanders through here. The last Truth said he hadn't seen anyone since Mustang, and no one's been stupid enough to wander through yet. The Truth also makes sure no one dead tries to escape and regain their life."

"What else is there to know?" Al asked, the scientist in him begging for more information. "There must be so much more open to us..."

"Yeah, there is. There's even a way to resurrect the dead. It just cause so many problems it would practically tear the world apart," Ed said. "Overpopulation for one thing."

"So, where _are_ the dead? Does the Gate absorb them?" Al asked, glancing around the room. But he didn't see any signs of the Gate. Except...the way the books and shelves were arranged formed what looked like the tree on the Gate he had first seen. "Oh. So _that's_ where it went."

Ed shrugged. "Got bored with the other one. The dead, though, aren't absorbed by the Gate. Rather, they pass through it, and rest behind the Gate. Here, I'll show you. It's time for my screaming match with the Homunculi and Father anyway. It's become a daily thing. They yell profanities at me, I yell back... It's actually really funny." He motioned to Al, and the two walked toward the bookshelf with the trunk of the tree. The books slipped aside, and the two brothers walked through the Gate. For once, they paid no price.

Al walked through, and found a massive, endless white hall. "The nice thing is you can find people really easily. It's odd, but once you die...well, you can probably already tell. I keep forgetting you're dead. Everyone's minds beyond the Gate are connected, so you can find whoever you're looking for easily. The mind adapts to containing so much information and people aren't as solid as they are in the live world. You can transport your atoms around wherever you want. Basically, you can teleport."

Al looked up as people began to appear around Ed and him. Trisha Elric, Van Hohenheim, Hughes, Buccaneer, Fu, Greed, and Barry. Not to mention a few other people he hadn't seen, or expected to see. Hohenhiem pointed out Scar's brother, who they'd found, and Al happily carried Nina on his back.

After a few minutes on catching up of who was arguing with whom in Amestris (mostly General Armstrong being ticked off about Mustang being Fuhrer), the other Homunculi, with the exception of Greed, exchanged profanities with Ed, Al, and a few others.

More time passed, and over the years, they met several people ready to join the ranks of the dead. Al and Ed excitedly welcomed in Mustang and his underlings when they came through. Somehow, they had all managed to die of old age.

When Mustang told him that, Ed snickered. "Somehow, I'm astonished you didn't manage to shoot your own foot off." Mustang glared at him for that, which just made Ed snicker harder.

"Fullmetal, that's something _you_ would do," Mustang retorted. Ed rolled his eyes. "So if you're here, then I'm assuming the person we saw return that looked like you was..."

* * *

Winry came home for the day. She'd just finished fixing someone's automail arm and was a bit tired. It had taken longer to make the automail than she'd expected. She wearily walked through the door and waved at Ed, who was sitting at the table reading a book. He nodded to her, and gave a secretive smile. Ever since he came back from the Truth so many years ago, that had been the only smile she'd seen on him. His last trip to the Gate had fallen into the category of unmentionable subjects, and she'd never asked about the smile. But...she was still curious. And curiosity won.

"Ed? I've been meaning to ask you, but why do you smile like that? It's like you know something no one else does," Winry asked, slumping at the table, but watching Ed with genuinely curious eyes.

The Truth gave her a smile. "I don't what you're talking about, Winry."

* * *

A/N: So that was my alternate ending. I just randomly thought of this one day and decided I should write it out, so...

Turns out I made one heck of a lot of mistakes. Several people reviewed and commented, and one person in particular (Blue-Haired Goddess, thank you!) pointed out the mistakes I made. (And there were a lot, too. Whoops...) So if you were one of the first to see the original story, you'll notice it's changed. Hopefully it's better now. I think I fixed most of the mistakes, but I missed anything else, please tell me!

Thanks for reading and please review!


End file.
